Very Few Times
by Chiriru
Summary: There are very few times when Jonathan Kent feels this scared of a teenager. Set after Exodus, possible Chlark


"Very Few Times" by Chiri 

There are very few times when Jonathan Kent feels this scared of a teenager. He fears as Chloe - pale and shaking -walks in his front door with a thick manilla folder, that this may be one of them.  
  
It is weird how his fears have changed since he was her age. He used to fear blowing his knee out in a football game and never make it into college. Feared never winning Martha over and feared loosing her again. And about Clark. He's feared about Clark for as long as he could remember and right now it feels as if fear has taken away his legs to move, his voice to speak, and sometimes-- his will to live.  
  
Jonathan Kent knows fear by name. He's looked it straight in the eye and he's not exactly sure who won the staring contest but he's starting to realize that it's probably not him as his biggest fear comes about as Chloe starts showing off paper documents. He somehow finds it ironic that he can handle an invincible boy but not a 5'4" normal human girl.  
  
There are very few times when Jonathan Kent goes back on his word. Picking up a surveillance photo stolen from Lionel Luthor by his son's best friend, he thinks that this might be one of them.  
  
Anyone in this little town could write volumes on how he would do anything but kill to protect his home, his family. How he was honest and true but god help the man who tried to take way his biggest treasures -- his wife and son. Who would say if anyone got too close, if anyone set him off would be looking down the wrong end of a shot gun.  
  
Looking up, he doesn't see Martha who is pale and grim, but Chloe who is thin and frail and crying. Who suddenly has lost any pretence of being anything other than a scared teenager who is in over her head and looking for the way out. Who is looking at him for the answers as if he knows how to escape the mess she's in.  
  
There are very few times when Jonathan Kent feels the pain of bringing Lionel Luthor into Smallville so acutely. Seeing Chloe at his kitchen table, crying and surrounded by information on his family, is one of them.  
  
He has rarely felt a connection to this girl; he's been amused by, entertained by, and even wary of her before. He had pushed Clark away from her with now-unfounded reason and a gut-feeling that he once couldn't identify. Right now, he is pretty sure that he can label it. Looking at her sobbing, torn between her love for her father and of his son, he sees that she is a lot like him.  
  
She's bold. Rash. She loves too strong, too deeply, too much. Her pain is more private than public and the guilt she caries is often masked by a predictable turn of phrase. She's too trusting and too moral to be caught up in this, he thinks, but he feels very much like the proverbial pot when thinking this when he has fragments of a metal ship to punctuate his own deal with the devil resting on his dresser.  
  
There are very few times when Jonathan Kent feels shaken to the core. Lying in bed, Martha talking about what to do about the blonde editor, instinct tells him that this is one of them.  
  
The phrase that 'she's just a kid' keeps running through his head, knowing that Clark was running wild as if he weren't one killing him as well. When did kids become targets to be manipulated and when did he suddenly feel so old as if he was simply useless to everyone?  
  
In the morning he packs their bags on auto pilot, still shocked that fear had won. And angry, but that was familiar. Anger was comforting in some respects because fear was going to have a rematch; packing and planning. He was more than ready when the small convertible pulled up.  
  
There are very few times when Jonathan Kent feels like he's winning and not just loosing again. And while maybe he did take part of that phrase from a Gordon Lightfoot song, he wants to believe that this really is one of them.  
  
Packing their bags in the trunk and letting Martha enter the teenager's automobile first, he sees the sun come up over his lands. Taking off in the middle of summer was a risk; so was trusting Chloe. But her green eyes sparkle when she hears his idea and he can't help but feel that Gabe should be proud of his daughter. Or that he would be proud if she were his or if Kara had grown up to be like her as well.  
  
The car is racing towards Metropolis, Martha and Chloe are laughing in an unexpected ease, and he's coaxed Chloe to put on a classic rock station. The road and hope is before them, and there are very few times when Jonathan Kent has felt quite like this. It's scary and exciting; it finally feels like he's in charge of his life again. He grins unexpectedly feeling a dead weight slip off his chest.  
  
If there ever was a turning point in life, he thinks that this must be one of them. 


End file.
